Re: Bananas.org Wiki Question
 

About 8 months. Our first frost is historically about November 15th.

Re: Bananas.org Wiki Question
 

If you apply just over a half pound of 10-10-10 each month (9 ounces) for 8 months, that doesn't equal the 10 lbs of 10-10-10 needed to give the banana plant 1 lb of nitrogen per growing season (8 months). wouldn't that only give them slightly over 4 lbs of 10-10-10 and not 10 lbs?

Wouldn't you have to give each plant 1.25 lbs of 10-10-10 every month to give it the 1lb of nitrogen over an 8 month span?

Re: Bananas.org Wiki Question
 

You are correct. I wrote that as a note to me last fall. Currently all but a few Orinocos plants are less than 4 ft tall. So 1/2 dose is appropriate.

Now I was basing this on the fertilizer used in the Tifton Banana Trials by Dr. Fonsah. You can download his pdf report at this link. New Banana Cultivars Trial in the Coastal Plain of South Georgia - AgEcon Search

Oh, incidentally I applied fertilizer for the first time this year this morning. Because of the drought conditions the banana plants in my large patch were late coming up and didn't break ground until around the first of this month. With no rain, then granular fertilize wont do much good. So I was holding off on fertilizer. ... We Got Rain!

Re: Bananas.org Wiki Question
 

Now I also did a little research for amount of water needed to water/irrigate banana plants. I was giving a lot of water to my small nana patch to keep the leaves from dropping and make the nanas happy during our drought.

The Fla home guide for growing bananas states/recommends a plant to receive 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week. ... Other references indicated a banana plant root spread can be as much as 30 ft.; but the Fla Home Guide stated the root spread about 16 ft. Anyway I used 15 ft X 15 ft area & 1 in of water for the following calc.

15 ft X 15 ft => 225 s1 ft => 32400 sq in X 1 in = 32400 cu in. => 140 gallons +/- of water per mature plant per week.

I was watering 12 plants, but 8 of those were less than 3 ft tall.

Re: Bananas.org Wiki Question
 

me realizing that makes me happy because I'm starting to understand this hair-ripping out part of banana growing!

I figured you had a whole farm of bananas tas much as you know about the fertilizer for them etc.

Re: Bananas.org Wiki Question
 

That's way too much work for for me, man! i just drench water around and on them when we haven't had rain and it's hot.

Re: Bananas.org Wiki Question
 

And here we loose another member to "cactus.org" ;) .....

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I love your sense of humor 😂

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... ...

Re: Bananas.org Wiki Question
 

LOL:woohoonaner:

Re: Bananas.org Wiki Question
 

Cinci, shouldn't you be potting yours up for the winter right about now LOL?! Ha You all are great!

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:ha:

Re: Bananas.org Wiki Question
 

Since I started my new granular fertilizer mix schedule a few weeks ago, my banana plants are absolutely exploding with growth. The new leaves and petioles are about 1.5 times larger than previously, the pstem space in between each leaf is way longer and thicker, the pstems are turning into fat freaks, and sword suckers are exploding out of the ground like rockets!

Now the fun begins! :08:

Thanks for all the help and input!

Re: Bananas.org Wiki Question
 

That's great results. ... But... while the UGa research reports indicated several Banana varieties can flower & fruit 24 to 26 weeks after transplanting in March, this will be too late in the year for the fruit to ripen. The reports also indicated several varieties proved to be choked the following spring. The banana plants were starting to push the flower when frost & cold set in and thus was coked the next spring. So I'll reduce the fertilizer application to 60% to 70% of the recommended amounts for this season; then apply full amount the beginning of next spring in hopes of forcing the flower & fruiting early next summer. ... Our problem is timing as was with the banana trials. :bananas_b

Re: Bananas.org Wiki Question
 

Thanks, Max!

The banana plants were transplanted form pots in a greenhouse to ground on May 11 according to the journal article i read: New Banana Cultivars Trial in the Coastal Plain of South Georgia - AgEcon Search . Mine was about 1' tall when I planted it in the ground on April 23rd. We had a few cold fronts come through that didn't help the roots establish quickly but I gotta work with what nature gives me :)

I was going to start cutting down the fertilizer near the end of the summer to reduce complications. I'd rather have one that chokes in one season then wait 3-4 years before it flowers - if it survives the dry-storing lol. I'll roll the dice with the choking.

The only two I have that has a prayer to flower and would be a HUGE surprise is the Veinte Cohol (pstem approx 2' now) and a Basjoo (pstem approx 6' now). I'm not counting on them to flower this season but I'm going to push all of them (Veinte Cohol, many Basjoo, tall Namwah, tall Orinoco, Manzano, and potted AgriStarts FHIA-01) hard and see what happens. All but the Manzano and AgriStarts FHIA-01 have pups so I'm planning to let the pups get a decent size then desucker them into pots over the winter in my basement lighting setup. I'm sure the Manzano will have a pup any second with the way the new fertilizer mix has the growth exploding with them all.

If I can get some decent size Viente Cohol pups in pots by around August/September then I should have more than enough time to have a few fruit next grow season.

The tall Orinoco will be dry-stored in my basement and I'll pot a pup or two. my friend down the road dry stores them at a cycle (small, med, large) and every one of the larger ones fruits a nice bunch every year. He had one fruit while being dry-stored in the garage last year lol. I'm going to follow his lead since I know it works for my area. Some of his tall Orinocos get over 20 feet tall and the base of the pstem is like a telephone pole - no exaggeration. he said the trick is not to lay them down but to keep the top as elevated as possible so they feed themselves all winter. I will eventually keep a few outside over the winter like in the article below. It is in a colder zone than I am and they never die back. I guess the corms/mats have to get giant to survive a colder zone than mine. https://subtropicalmemphis.wordpress...oung-district/

I'll see how the Manzano and tall Namwah do with dry-storing - not counting on good results. I'll keep a Namwah pup for insurance but I'm thinking of only keeping tall Orinocos and Veinte Cohols for my zone moving forward since I can't pot up a 8+ foot banana plant in my basement. I'll keep the AgriStarts FHIA-01 potted and lug it in and out until I get tired of doing that or it flowers - if it ever flowers.

Welp, that's my banana season life story...sorry such a long post lol.


Max, didn't you say you had a huge tall Orinoco mat just south of me? Would love to know how they did with your colder winters or what you did to protect them, etc.

Re: Bananas.org Wiki Question
 

I have 6 mid-size Orinoco (not 20 ft) that were transplanted as 3 ft to 5 ft pups last September. The pstems are about 8 ft to 10 ft. I didn't do anything special for protection. The leaves died back 3 times and regrow within 2 weeks during the winter. ... Oh, these new Orinocos are pupping like crazy. I may have more than a dozen new pups; a couple 5 ft now.

All my old plants (38 to 40 plants) were liked last July. ... Its been my experience (in my area) over the past 15 to 18 years if the pstem has good size it will not freeze to the ground. I think the sugar in the sap is like antifreeze. I regularly cut the dead tops off in the spring leaving a live pstem 5 ft to 6 ft. tall. Many of these would then grow & fruit. ... I have a neighbor that doesn't trim his nanas in the spring. They do fine also.

Re: Bananas.org Wiki Question
 

Fertilize all you want but all I use is leaves, ash, and charcoal and i can't keep up with growth. Nothing has a problem fruiting either. Waste of money IMO to buy fertilizer.

Re: Bananas.org Wiki Question
 

That works if you have it. I'm building new mats and just don't have enough leaf debris. I do use hardwood ashes when available. ... My old mats and nanas had 16" + of leaf debris built up over the years and were growing well without addition fertilizer. :bananas_b

Re: Bananas.org Wiki Question
 

100lbs of my fertilizer mix cost me like $35 so that's not too bad since it will last me years. I also use Black Kow composted manure and black mulch as top dressing. Leaves get put down in the fall when the oaks drop them.

Im quite a bit north of you so they need to go fast lol. I wish I lived in Florida man. I'm down there all the time.

Re: Bananas.org Wiki Question
 

That's pretty awesome that you don't have to do anything to them. What are the lowest winter temps in where you are in southern GA?

It may get down to 20-25 degrees for a night or two 35 miles northeast of Atlanta but it's pretty rare. You think I got a shot of my tall Orinocos making it outside through my winter?